Ponderings on motivation scale and style

Hello folks , its been a while since I wrote about the hobby in a personal way ...

So I have been thinking about starting a new long term project...  I have noticed  that my creativity and motivation for the hobby is cyclical.. I tend to have bouts of intense  hyper creativity and then long periods of relative calm. I have always worked like this , its the only way I know how how to work.. although the hyper creativity is sometimes intoxicating and leaves me feeling thoroughly spent    afterwards. It often takes me a few days to realise I am in the middle of hyper creative phase, my mind seems to race twenty four seven with neurones sparking and clashing together, i feel like i need no sleep , only to out pour my ideas ..  and all the ideas seem like they are  good if not great... ( punch drunk no doubt )as if conjugating  in ones mind for weeks months or years sometimes..  waiting for the right moment to come out

Migsula recently wrote of something similar in his blog  and agree whole heartedly

qoute " The most surreal modeling flow state where every idea was a very original mix of highly suitable concepts and themes. When ideas have been maturing in your head subconsciously for a long time, sometimes they rush out and it's thrilling."

At the time of writing I find myself again on edge of this most manic state.. the past few weeks have been a flurry of glue and plastic.. kitbashing model after model .. it was during this intense intoxicating state I had a moment of  creative clarity ..




I had been working upon several skirmish  warbands in different styles and different heights.. some in games workshop plastics and some in resins and fine cast. I had noticed that when I had created models for Skirmish gaming those models gravitated towards the 30-32mm scale .. a scale that works rather well for character driven skirmish games..

of course a downside to this is that Astartes can look rather silly when dwarfed by a puny guardsman .. we all know how Astartes really look.

Now this isn't going to be a  lets bash space marines scale post .. in fact quite quite the opposite in matter of fact. In the past I have had my issues with Astartes scaling  , When I returned the hobby
a few years ago my mind was soon filled with the imposing heroic artistic images of space marines , Captured really well in the space marine game i think . And of course inspired by the legend Mr Artscale himself Migsula , I had a bash at artscaling Imperial Guard to go with my expressionist marines ;-)

feeling the disconnect from the art to reality of the models - compounded if you are a guard and space marine player I think..


When i first played with a space marine in the space crusade days of yore  scale was not important , after all these red blue and yellow toys are just representing a token really.. not too important within itself , just player piece in the larger strategy of imagination.. after all i didn't need the board to be made out of metal or to be an actual ship... that line has to drawn somewhere .. I am not privy to reasons behind the scaling of Marines .. but the designer in me could hazard a guess.


but that's beside the point , for me the space marine models  themselves never really captivated me not really sure why .. could be scale thing or the style or combination of both.I guess the will rees images of space marines is where my imagination prefers gravitate.

That is until recently ...

For a long time i have had a hankering to make a 40k board game .. I have such fond memories of playing  space hulk advanced space crusade and space crusade..  I yearn to feel that claustrophobic  quite tension of a ship boarding and exploration game .. laced with a long term campaign strategy where every decision counts .. every soldiers life is valued against the objectives... diminishing resources and that burst of skirmish action.  In the past i considered scratch building the marines and the board .. but the reality and expense of the task, not to mention that I didn't really have a gaming group.

I think that the time to make it is now .. the release of the zone mortalis sets  .has made a nigh impossible task relatively easy and cheap , not to mention the outstanding space marine  miniatures that have been released in both 40k and 30k...

With a few friends aranging to start collecting armies to game with .. i too am feeling the need to begin a long term project , something to inspire me to start collecting the miniatures and painting them , as opposed to just converting what is already out their..

You could argue that we convert miniatures to have ownership of them.. or because they are not quite what we want.. for myself the need to drastically convert space marines or any models is beginning to change .that is probably because games workshop is actually giving me what I want ;-)  and in part down to lack of skill i have that is  needed to convert such perfectly detailed miniatures. without making them look crap !
dont get me wrong , I would still convert or up scale a marine for skirmish games , but for this long-term project - I see painting and collecting with only very slight modification to the Astartes as a priority.





A board game

I am not sure what exactly this project will be , but i see it as my attempt to recreate some sort of ship boarding action , probably during the horus heresy.. strategy and campaign are important as are the models them selves ..and of course scenery.. ;-) if i can fit all all into a bespoke box when all is done the better..

its really just an excuse to collect the wonderful heresy models ;-)






 So with that in mind I started to see if it was possible to make a downscaled imperial guard ..or better still Imperial navy crew..

i have always liked the idea of IG squads having seven lasrifles one lascannon one captain and one orderly.. so i will begin the project by attempting to build a squad. of course i must credit Cerebralerebus for his steller inspiring work on his admek guys too.

below are some of my first experiments with imperial navy / IG scaling

Palatine

A Visual and idealogical triptych of Grimdark 40k - Necromunda  and Confrontation.

Edit : I realise this blog is huge and loading is a problem - if i get time i will split it in to two or three parts ;-)

Some folks will Remember Kari Hernesniemi ( of the spiky rat pack fame  ) suggested  on The Tears of Isstvan Blog  that a group of us get together and play Confrontation during their next trip to the UK

Well I am more than happy to write that the trip happened a little over a week ago. It was a great little get together that involved beautiful  miniatures - gaming  ( with pop up pirate ! )- drinking ( 100 % proof rum ) - eating  sleeping and laying on floor in the middle of the road taking photographs !

Nine Modellers/gamers  took part ( Sadly Bruticus's brilliant  Ash waste Pinkertons couldn't get their jalopy to start :-(  )

And as if gaming with The spiky boys wasn't impressive enough - Miniature painting legend and twice slayer sword wielding champion - holder of a box of Golden demons and many other paintbrush based accolades ....  The  impressively tall and impeccably polite JRN also graced us with his revered personage !



I will just add that even if we didn't get to game or see stunningly painted and inspiring models , just to be able to chat in person to folks you only know via the internet was rather cool.

Rippajak, Rippajak, Rippajak Jak,

Caryatids dance on the ghoulkin's back.

Ratskin, Scavkyng Sculk unseen,

Syren singing seraphym queen.

Dance in the spook wynd, pyskout rats,

Dance with little man, tailsting Brats.

Spyrers whyte with brutelords's myght,

Bound by guild law tekkers fyght.

Outcast downcast driven insane,

Psyker Psyker Emprahs Bane.

Bring hygh on low and low on hygh,

long live the cherubym, end is nygh.

Syzygy

 Upspyre clans leaders descend on their lowly counterparts

 

Class Warfare

Long dead administratum census archivists linked protracted Ash storms to patterns of rise and fall in hive population statistics. The popular opinion that hive numbers continue to grow exponentially is a falsehood.Palatine Hive's population has reached its critical mass. As unregulated hive bottom numbers increase, the lack of available space forces most new clans to spread out into the shanties. Fearsome Ash storms often cull these numbers before they can form newer spires. A storm that persist for more than few years can force new clans to forgo the unsheltered shanties, instead risking the crowded confines of the sump bottom. The resultant hive quakes, increased  population numbers and lack of food, force  the most desperate clans to form blood pacts. The orgiastic violence and desperation of these vast gangs ( whom have nothing left to loose ) is rightly feared by upspyre clans. Who will often form their own guild aligned covenants to quash an immanent underhive invasion before it starts.This cyclical genocidal blood bait is know to many Clans as "The Hounding"

 Covenant of the Spyre Patricians

Tech clan XXVIIII

 By Rise of the Magi

Tech Clan  XXXVII

 By Neil101

Psykout Spook Brats 

 By Tears Of Envy

The Wasps

By Kari Hernesniemi

The Whyte spyrers

By JRN

Underhive Vulgus Blood Pact

Fallen Noble Psyker Clan 

 By Fulgrim

Scavvie King

 By PDH 

  Rats kin 

By Mikko Luoma

  

 Motherload - GunBrute - Arco Evicorator (Arco ghoulkin)

 By John Blanche  

The Hounding 

 

 Spyrers descend into the gloom searching out their prey, whilst the Underhivers lay in wait.

    

Covenant -The Tech clans take the left flank Both high and low -The Spook Brats & the Wasps low  centre -The White Spyrers High  Right 

Blood pact -The Psykers take position on  the High Left - The Scavvies and Ratskin Low centre - with The Motherload and Kin High Right

Act I - Declination 



 


Act I -Covenant Left Flank (low)  Tech 29's

 

Manufactorum Clan tech XXVIIII's calculations had attributed less chance of ambush 

if they flanked the bloodpact's hideout from below. Unfortunately for them their 

calculations proved naught, when their bio scanners pinged three blips ahead.

Act I -Covenant Left Flank (high)  Tech 37's's

Mirroring their guild peers below, the analytical Tech 39s's methodically asses their

tactical options, deciding against splitting into two less efficient groups. The pallid manufactorum 

workers check their pistols and flank around the left side of a central rock pillar.

Act I -Covenant Centre left (low) Psykout Spook Brats

The saraband SpookBrats danse macabre towards a central rock.
 The Spry leader unclipping  ornate gilt psykout grenades from his baroque belt.

Act I -Covenant Centre right (low) The Wasps

  

The wasps move towards higher ground for a better vantage. The stunted ringleader's reverberant 

voice momentarily lost in the monumental vastness of the UnderKing's domain

Act I -Covenant Right Flank (high) Whyte Spyrers

Supercilious spyrers look down with unabashed distaste at the filth ridden shanty. 

Striding imperious across a rickety makeshift bridge, an overbearing Brutelord is 
unceremoniously toppled by a withering hail of fire.








Act I - Blood pact Left Flank (high) Fallen Noble Psykers

The sinister Psykers move to intercept the invading techs- Sheltering In the darkness

 the Matriarch wrestles to control her fragile mind as the ScavvyKyng passes by unbeknownst.

Act I - Blood pact Centre left (low) Scavvy king

The albino shaman throws the bones of fate as the bullyrag Sumpking
 shuffles mutated courtiers through his forsaken Scavvy citadel.

 

 

Act I - Blood pact Centre right (low) Spiky Rats Kin 

The Spiky Rat's kin scamper behind their muroidea brethren, watching 
undercowl the predacious swarm ravening towards the rakish spook brats.
 






Act I - Blood pact Right Flank (high) Motherload & Kin

 Quiescent GunBrute bombards obtruder's as The Motherload glides sanguine, 
gently nurturing the irenic ArcoEvicorators into spasms of distemper.

 

Summary  : Little happened in the opening moves from either side.

A few shots were exchanged between The tech29's and the Psykers and the RatsKins attempted to shoot the tech37's leader but no casualties came of these opening shots.Only the Brutelord from the whyte spyrers was temporarily downed  ( who consequently fell to the hive bottom and had to slowly lumber back up )  by The Motherload's GunBrute in its long range opening salvo. Although both sides were now in good positions to assault each other.

The Motherload

She shoalqueen of the dark, talling awash in mantic prescience

Seirēn song of mortal seduction, anthropophagous soul harpy

Upon the eaten corpses she lolls in bone dust and stix

Rags of shrivelled flesh tattered banners of distress

Cannibal caryatids supping at her breast 

Act II - Tribulation

Act II - Covenant Left Flank (low)  Tech 29's

As techclan 29 approaches the under-bridge. The rogue Psykers unleash a wave of harrowing ethereal attacks. 

His mind beset by spectral phantoms, the techclan gunjack unloads
 his shoulder mounted cannon into the overseer's flank, temporally downing him.
As both workers recover themselves from the incorporeal attack, the binary logos feels
 his cerebral link implode with a sudden accumulation of raw empyriastical data.
The psychic backlash killing him instantly and once again downing the beleaguered Overseer.










Act II - Covenant Left Flank (high)  Tech 37's's ( part1)

 Coetaneous to the Tech 29 psychic assault, Tech clan 37 is also psychically mind jacked  
 Forcing one tekker to betray his own, downing his co-worker with a shot to back.
Unaware of this duplicity, the leader forges straight ahead into the Scavvy Luddite ambush !








Act II - Covenant Centre left (mid) Psykout Spook Brats

Raining down exotic pyskout grenades, the gallivanting Brats open 
fire on the rampaging rats with las carbines and antique flintlocks.
Downing one of the spiky rats kin before the flea bitten ravening 
hoard engluts its first victim in a bloody sod of spike, teeth & claw

Enthusiasm for the fight diminishing the two remaining effete youths become
 (spooked ), and decide head back upspyre to escape the dank filth of the underhive.
 Laughing erstwhile at the shameful fate of their moribund peers












 Act II - Covenant Centre right (low) The Wasps

The wasps clamber up towards the sounds of battle,
flooring a lone Ghoulkin in a venom of bullets

Inimical chainsaw warriors dance a duel of mortal combat

A binocular wasp gazes towards the embattled ScavvyKing retinue
oblivious to the bead drawn on him by a distant GunBrute 

The two remainder wasps amidst a battle royal with the ScavvyKing,
 unleash a semi automatic sting, puncturing a hole in the Bloodpacts left flank.









Act II - Covenant Right Flank (high & low) Whyte Spyrers

 

The Whyte Spyre patricians saunter nonchalant into the fray, confident that no 
underhiver could best them in affairs of spyrachial honour .

Embroiled in unexpected savagery, the leaderless nobles falter,
 the incredulous bite of  truth lacerates deeper than any chainblade...

The sombre spyrer brought low by the Gunbrute,
lumbers noctivagrant towards inclement inevitability

Act II - Blood pact Left Flank (high) Fallen Noble Psykers 

Ingurgitate with umbrage, the nefarious down castes seek out the shadows of safety.
Their sallow complexion concocting an ignoble chiaroscuro, A Stygian backdrop for their witchery.
 As the Contessa's diabolism waxes into a warp filled rage, the binds of reality slip. A ravenant bursts forth, 
devouring her sibling in a phantasmagorical frenzy that is over no sooner it began.       










Act II - Blood pact Centre left (mid) Scavvy king  (part1)

Initially downed in the blast that killed his  bother & leader
 the resilient No2 scrambles to his feet adjusting his shock gauntlets,
 spoiling for fraternal fisticuffs

 A lone tech37 camouflages himself against the rocky outcrop, his augmented visor
reticule helping him to down a twin headed mutant in the gloom of the underhive

A vitriolic disdain for humanity born out of relentless persecution,
 the MutantUnderKing seizes the opportunity for miscreant retribution.
His malformed cortège wastes no time introducing surprised uphivers
to their baneful salutations. 

part 2


Reeling from the scavvy ambush the now leaderless tech 37's, tech 29's and the wasps,
launch a counter attack, sniping and flaming the savage heretics from all sides.
Caught in this relentless onslaught the Scavvie cohort finally succumbs to
the caryatid's calescent flames

    

Rats Live On


There is an old hivers tale that proffers If some great calamity beset the Palatine Cluster,
If all man and mutant were to be destroyed, or even if the Hive should quake itself to dust.
Or even if Necromunda itself were to be made Exterminatus !
There would still be the rats. 

The Spiky Rat
( Genus Rattus Clavus longus )

Is no exception to this edict. A particularly vicious beast the Rattus Clavus Longus
is bred and worshipped by the Rats Kin Not to be confused with the the more common "ratskins"
The Rat's Kin are a very small band of  savage warriors, who worship the Spiky white Rat .
A formidable  mythic beast of uncountable years 














Act II - Blood pact Centre right (low) Spiky Rats Kin

The Rat's Kin make slow progress across the cavernous citadel.
Trading shots with the Brats and the Tech 37's , the fearsome warriors 
forgo cover but become target practice for both Brats and Wasps.

The Spikey Rats themselves fair far better, living up to their fearsome reputation 
the rats barrel into the Brats tearing the fragrant youths into decadent morsels 

Far from satiated, the rabid vermin spies a chubby digestif

Act II - Blood pact Right Flank (high) Motherload & Kin

 ArcoEviscerators burst forth in a frenzy of maniacal blood lust,
decant claret besmirching virgin robes 

The stolid GunBrute volleys explosive round after round into the
 covenant.Callously swatting parasites & patricians in its monotonous wake.

Despatched with the blanched blue bloods,
The achromatic harridan transfixes its new found prey

Summary  : Act II saw things get a little messy, the Covenant of Patricians began to show its
weakness's, although it outnumbered the Underhivers by a quite a bit, the cunning vicious and
 unrelenting savagery displayed by the Blood Pact really came into its own.
The left flank was a bloody battle ground, even with the dethronement of the Scavvy king
the Psykers proved implacable. Spiky Rats although whittled down, were still proving a real threat,
Routing the Brats and tenaciously gnawing at anything in reach.
On the right flank things were not going great for the Whyte Spyrers either.
the Motherload & Kin were in a good position the Gunbrute pinning the enemy whilst the Ghoulkin did the wetwork. But the wasps were still in the ruckus, with a great vantage on both flanks they posed a real threat

The underhive had evened the fight but lost its Crown

   

Act III - Retribution

Ghost in the machine

//Binary Logos attributed// Unfilled quotas = negative rations//

//78% chance of Manufactorum disruption (if) the underhive rises//
//unknowndatafound---error-error--unknowndatascrubbed//

//Mindwillsetbind-Nos-pak-attributed-77% chance of death in combat//

//willclose-action ready -aggression set 65% -Praise-// Gun mount ready//

//rekut-Omnisiah Protect//0%chance of death//- aggression reset 100%-//

Act III - Covenant Left Flank (low)  Tech 29's

Physically & mentally wracked, the bedevilled technocratic overseer 
lays prostrate. His analogue mind beset with incalculable variables.

As the machine spirit comprehensively rewrites the deviant erratum in the automatons 
cognitive-data-loop- it abstracts the resultant death of the female Wyrd is no doubt advantageous 
to the Technocratic Guild's machinations




Act III - Covenant Left Flank (high)  Tech 37's's 

The Endsong (part 1)

As one member of the tech clan XXXVII
runs delusional from the makeshift citadel. Psychic horrors
  made all too real by his subconscious, clawing at his heels.

   
Another seeks a snubgun exorcism for the final member of the Contessa's
hellion coven

( Part 2 further down at the bottom )





Act III - Covenant Centre left (mid) Psykout Spook Brats

 ( The SpookBrats have retreated )





Act III - Covenant Centre right (low) The Wasps

" Rats in a barrel "

A thunderous GunBrute explosion claims a penultimate wasp.
Upon sighting the ArcoEviscerator who claimed an earlier comrade,
The diminutive battler bellows his intent and is decidedly Eviscerated !

Act III - Covenant Right Flank (high) Whyte Spyrers

His brood eviscerated the BruteLord can only hope for vengeance


Catching the Siren off guard the ponderous tyrant 
slabs impact-full powerfists of regal reprisal.Winding the she devil
and shattering the ghoulkin to naught but charred splinters












Act III - Blood pact Left Flank (high) Fallen Noble Psykers



The caliginous Contessa radiant with victory, ascends from her crepuscular cave.

Anathema to light the sepulchral queen, torched with lambent rays of death

Her tenebrous flame extinguished

 Waxen glabrous aether heathen, conjures death from the astral plane,

tormenting trickster, binding headwitch sends his enemies minds insane,

candlemass and cloak & dagger, cunning cauldron hearts desire,

dowsing esbat scrying mirror, raise my victory with balefire.

A final push sees the surviving Machiavellian Wyrdkin victorious over
 his enemies, the Technocratic guild alliance is defeated.

(The under hive secures the left flank)





Act III - Blood pact Centre left (low) Scavvy king

 ( The King is dead ..long live the King )






Act III - Blood pact Centre right (low) Spiky Rats Kin



Plague Rats Attack Baby Blue Bats

 

The Wasps take out the final Rat's Kin, leaving the ravening rats
 to hold the center alone

The putrescent vermin rushes caustic towards the cobalt cherub




Act III - Blood pact Right Flank (high) Motherload & Kin

After a fateful battle the usurping dowager leaves the BruteLord Overthrown.
His bereft clan a carcass to spyre hubris

(The under hive secures the right flank)























The Endsong





(part 2)



Gliding untroubled over the irksome vermin swarm, the devilish Caryatid,
giddy with the ScavvyKing's death, is drawn ever onwards
 towards a most beguiling sound.

Frustratingly impeded from its alluring destiny,
The impish seraph is entangled in a trenchant triptych

Besieged the lone Caryatid fights a desperate futile fight against its assailants
until it can fight no more, its cherubym charm empty.




In its final moments .. a siren sounds, the bewitching songs of a Motherkynd.
The Arcokin moves to protect the malign infant sensing the Motherload's maternal desire.

 














Ignorant of any familial loyalty, the Spiky Rats turn on their
would be antagonist, overwhelming their ghastly foe.

Imbued with kindred joy the Caryatid seizes the opportunity
to finish off the rats once and for all.



    Overcome with fecundity, the Motherload  lactates nurturing malevolence, and MotherChylde suckles... 






































Epilogue


Well The Covenant of Spyre Patricians is defeated , Victory to the Underhive !

Cheers hope you enjoyed it





This was a really great game and a real privilege to be involved in. apologies the report has taken a while to surface 
Their is plenty more to say about the beautiful miniatures that were on display ..  in particular seeing  The duchess Death first hand and Envy's impressive  Pskout Brat display bases..etc..but that can wait for another day 

Edit : I have just been reminded i forgot to mention the gaming table .. quite a faux pas for me .. loving scenery an all.. well i think it goes without saying the table is just stunning - and full credit goes to the Warhammer World terrain team for creating it - For those who didn't know, it is a  faithful recreation of the goblin town form the Hobbit.  but i hope you might agree makes for a believable underhive setting too... though where they found wood on Necromunda i don't know ;-)

Many thanks go to The Spiky Rat pack and to JRN for taking the time to visit and game with us 
Thank also to PDH and Fulgrim for doing a brilliant job of Gming again.
And finally to John , miss Envy and Rise of the Magi for everything else !

and finally thanks to the guys at the table next to us for lending us the blue horror

oh yes and me for ..this ;-)